REVIVAL RHAPSODY: THE DANCING PARADE OF REGGIO EMILIA

Saturday, May 18th – 6:00 PM

Departure from Centro Sociale Gatto Azzurro, via del Gattaglio no. 30, Reggio Emilia.
Arrival at Parco del Legno, Reggio Emilia.

Revival Rhapsody is much more than just a dance workshop; it’s an intergenerational experience aimed at expanding the concept of inclusivity and participation through the sharing of stories, times, and different ways of inhabiting a place, all through the language of dance. Revival Rhapsody is a dancing parade that on May 18th at 6:00 PM starts from the Gattaglio Social Center, crosses the neighborhood, and arrives at the Parco del Legno.

The protagonists are citizens of Reggio Emilia with the participation of musicians from the Filarmonica Città del Tricolore, the Compagnia MaMiMò, and the Associazione XL.

The project, promoted and realized by the National Choreographic Center / Aterballetto in collaboration with the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Cooperativa Rigenera, and Gattaglio Social Center, funded by European funds from the Emilia-Romagna Region, stems from the natural evolution of From Ballroom to Rave, the workshop that in the last season involved citizens over 55 and under 25, but for the new edition has opened up to an even wider audience, from 16 years old and up.

If the previous year the workshop had a nomadic dimension, taking place in three different community centers, now for Revival Rhapsody, a place was sought to serve as a stable home for the project, a place that would become the creative incubator for the dancing community of a large group of participants. Since November 2023, the Gattaglio Social Center has been the tangible reference point that is transforming the concept of temporary community into a lasting reality, in dialogue with the regular visitors of the social center, from the elderly of the bocce club to the teenagers connected by trap music and table football games, and that fits into the social fabric of the Gattaglio neighborhood, becoming an integral part of daily life.

Dance becomes the vehicle through which people can express their stories and experiences, transforming the neighborhood into a living stage where generations mingle and identities are constructed and revealed through body movement. This process of revelation and sharing leads to the creation of a non-linear rhapsodic narrative, gathering pieces of history and personal testimonies.

Crafting this narrative is Lara Guidetti, performer, choreographer, and artistic director of the Sanpapié Company, who led the workshop and brought to life a dancing community starting from folk dance. The choreographer explains:

“Folk dance, as a true form of social ritual, breaks the boundaries of the emilian-romagnolo ‘liscio’ dance halls and the TAZs of raves to include practices typical of historical moments, regions, and different places deposited in collective memory and a tool for mutual understanding and narration. Revival means ‘reviving, rebirth, awakening’: a material deposited within bodies, memories, and imaginaries that, depending on the life phase one finds oneself in, can be very different, but is always present in each of us and constitutes a source of comparison, creativity, and intergenerational dialogue. The rhapsody evokes a free and varied composition, built from the ensemble of melodic cues that focus on a popular and transmissible narrative. This is the underlying structure of the project, which aims to bring together and give voice to ‘multiple uniqueness’ within a collective discourse, reflecting inclusiveness and listening”.